


Coffee shop

by Drago



Category: Block B, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Barista!Namjoon, Break Up, Fluff, Kyoongi - Freeform, Kyungi - Freeform, M/M, NASA, Namjico - Freeform, Namzico - Freeform, RapCo - Freeform, Sweet, What else is new, With A Twist, artist!Jiho, baby sheep, but his resting face is scary, just a little bit, soft Zico
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 05:44:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15857415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drago/pseuds/Drago
Summary: Namjoon thinks that the boy at the coffee shop is too pretty to be this sad, so he decides to do something about it. That's all there is, really, he isn't trying to get into his pants.Once he reaches the customer, he realizes two things. One, that the boy isn’t really a boy, but a man around his age. And two, that he’s been crying, his eyes are still red-rimmed and slightly puffy. Namjoon has been told before that his timing can be questionable at times, but even he knows, that flirting right now would be a very bad idea.





	Coffee shop

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, you are reading it right. Coffee shop AU because every OTP needs one, and I've never really written it before.

Namjoon doesn’t usually serve the customers because he is clumsy, and he either spills their drinks or breaks something. But when one day a tall boy with fluffy, slightly curly blond hair comes in, he feels the pull like never before. Namjoon can’t see his face properly, but there is something about the softness of his hair that makes him look like a baby sheep, and Namjoon loves cute things. He rushes to take the boy’s order, almost elbowing Taehyung on his way and ignoring his offended ‘hey!’.  
Once he reaches the customer, he realizes two things. One, that the boy isn’t really a boy, but a man around his age. And two, that he’s been crying, his eyes are still red-rimmed and slightly puffy. Namjoon has been told before that his timing can be questionable at times, but even he knows, that flirting right now would be a very bad idea.  
He realizes he is staring, so he offers his best smile, which isn’t saying much, and finally does his job.  
“I will have a cappuccino, thank you.”  
Namjoon lets his eyes roam a bit, and he decides that the boy could use some food, so he prompts, “And maybe a sandwich?”  
“I...” the guy hesitates, biting his lips adorably. “Yes, maybe a sandwich as well.”  
“The BLT is really good,” he suggests, because he doesn’t really remember what else is on the menu, and BLT is always good, even when it’s not.  
“I… guess?”  
“Great, I will bring it in a minute.”  
Taehyung smacks his arm when he goes back behind the counter, but there is no heat in it. The younger man curiously takes a peak at Namjoon’s customer, and whispers, “Is that your friend?”  
“No, I’ve never met him before.”  
“He is hot.”  
“No!” Namjoon growls, surprising both Taehyung and himself, he rarely ever raises his voice and, in general, is pretty laid back. He busies himself with preparing the order, not wanting to embarrass himself any further.  
He can’t cook, but he’s been working at the cafe for almost half a year now, so he knows how to make a decent sandwich. When everything is ready, he decides to throw in a cookie, even though the guy didn’t order it. He isn’t trying to hit on the other man, but maybe he is trying to get into his good graces.  
There aren’t many customers around this time, and usually Namjoon would read a book or clean up a bit, but this time he finds himself standing next to the guy’s table, asking if he can join him.  
“...sure?”  
He doesn’t blame the guy for being confused, who wouldn’t be. But Namjoon feels compelled to be slightly more pushy than he usually would be, a little more confident than he really is.  
“I’m Namjoon,” he introduces himself, even though his name is pinned to his shirt. But he knows that most people ignore it, it’s easier to yell at someone if you don’t know their name.  
“Jiho.”  
“I haven’t seen you before, did you just move here?”  
“No, my previous spot… I can’t go there anymore, I had to find a new place to get my coffee.”  
“Is that why you are sad?”  
Jiho looks at him, eyes wide open and almost making him look like a cute kid.  
“Not because of the place… but it’s related.”  
“So what happened? If you don’t mind sharing. Sometimes it’s easier if you tell someone.”  
“I got dumped.”  
Namjoon knows he shouldn’t be happy, he isn’t cut out to be a rebound, and he would rather avoid it at all cost, but the fact that Jiho is single makes his heart jump with joy. He is patient, he can wait for the other man to heal. If, of course, Jiho would even want him, Namjoon is well aware that he isn’t exactly the best catch. He is smart, but being smart doesn’t mean people are going to like you. Quite the opposite, at times.  
“Do you want to talk about it?”  
Jiho doesn’t. But he isn’t opposed to talking about other things, and Namjoon spends with him a lot more time than he should, but he doesn’t regret it at all. Jiho turns out to be his age, he is studying art, but wants to be a music producer in the future. He chose art because he wants to be versatile, and music doesn’t require school, at least not the kind that he is interested in. Namjoon likes music about as much as any other person and wants to work for NASA, but he firmly believes that it’s the differences that make life interesting.  
“NASA? I have a friend working there. Well, I think it’s an internship or something, but he said that he is going to stay there. He is a genius,” Jiho smiles like a proud dad, and Namjoon is only slightly jealous of said friend.  
“I have to go, I have work in the evening.”  
Namjoon tries not to sound overly dramatic, but he still asks, “Will you come back?”  
“Yeah? Probably, I told you I need a new place, and this one is pretty cozy”  
Jiho leaves the cafe smiling, and even Taehyung’s complaining for the rest of their shift doesn’t ruin Namjoon’s mood.

Jiho comes back three days later, and this time he isn’t sad, but his resting face is quite scary. If he came in looking like that the first time they’ve met, Namjoon probably wouldn’t approach him. But he smiles the second he spots Namjoon, and in his rush to get to the man, Namjoon drops the glass he is holding.  
Taehyung ends up taking Jiho’s order with an innocent smile on his face, while Namjoon cleans up the mess he made, quietly cursing at his his own clumsiness. But he is happy to see that even without his meddling Jiho orders a slice of cheesecake with his coffee. He feels a rather difficult to explain need to feed the boy, who seems to be all bones. Well, not a boy. A man. Or as much of a man as one can be at the age of twenty. Sometimes, Namjoon feels like he is still an awkward, fifteen year old kid, so calling someone else a ‘boy’ is almost insulting, but Jiho can’t read his thoughts. Thank God for that, because half of his recent thoughts involved fucking Jiho in various positions and places.  
Namjoon is good at pretending that he doesn’t think with his dick, so he actually manages to get to know Jiho better. The other man keeps coming back, and Namjoon can’t help but wonder, if it’s really the coffee and cakes that won him over. Maybe it’s something… someone else. A small part of his brain wants to believe that, but of course he knows better. Jiho is running away from a place that reminds him of his old lover, nothing more than that.  
Namjoon knows the other man isn’t over whoever broke his heart yet. It’s the small things, the way he stares at his phone with disappointment written all over his face every time he gets a text, and it’s never from the right person; or the way he sometimes gets sad for seemingly no reason at all. Namjoon knows that Jiho is thinking about his ex then, and it breaks his heart just a little bit.  
He is curious, but Jiho refuses to give him any details about his ex-boyfriend. Namjoon could probably snoop around, he is quite smart after all, but it would be a terrible breach of privacy, and it’s the last thing he wants. Yoongi always calls him naive, but it won’t stop him from believing in stupid things like trust.  
He is rewarded for this. One day he is taking a lunch break, eating cheesecake with Jiho, when Kim JaeJoong comes in. Namjoon knows him because he had half a semester of aerodynamics with him. But it’s Jiho’s reaction that’s interesting. He stiffens, eyes wide open and lips trembling. Then, he looks down, pretending that JaeJoong isn’t staring right at them.  
“Hello, Namjoon,” the older man greets him and then turns to Jiho, his voice much softer, “Jiho-ya.”  
Jiho’s greeting is barely audible. JaeJoong orders coffee to go and leaves soon after. Namjoon doesn’t have to ask, he’s seen enough and is, frankly speaking, shocked.  
“Mr. Kim taught me aerodynamics before Mr. Shim came back from the US,” he hears himself say, and it’s a weird feeling, being so disconnected from your own body. “I have to say I like Shim better.”  
“JaeJoong hates Changmin with passion,” Jiho chuckles, but it’s a small, weak sound. “But it’s not because of the classes.”  
“You dated a professor. It’s...”  
“I didn’t have any classes with him, it wasn’t like that!”  
Of course it wasn’t, Jiho is studying art, but he is too talented to need help from anyone. But Namjoon can see why some people could think that.  
“He is what, at least ten years older than you.”  
“Thirteen.”  
“Oh.”  
Jiho finally looks up, and his eyes shine with tears. He is embarrassed, and Namjoon regrets putting him on the spot like that. He should’ve kept his mouth shut, it’s none of his business.  
“Why did you break up?”  
“He dumped me,” Jiho corrects him, “because I wasn’t worth it.”  
It’s obvious enough that he doesn’t have to finish the thought, and Namjoon’s distaste for JaeJoong begins to grow. To him, Jiho is worth it.

Now that Namjoon knows the truth, Jiho is more relaxed around him. He almost looks relieved and finally lets Namjoon see his sketchbook. He’s seen some of Jiho’s works before, but every time he reached for the sketchbook, the other man would slap his hand away.  
It makes sense, there are at least six drawings of JaeJoong, and some of them are more explicit than others. Nothing too scandalous, but one would wonder about the half-naked, very realistic drawings of a professor.  
Namjoon hardly looks at them, not wanting to compare himself with the older, sexier man. But it’s inevitable, because after few nature sketches he finds pages filled with the faces of young, handsome men.  
“Your friends?”  
“Some of them, yeah. This one is my ex-boyfriend. And this one too.”  
Namjoon is absolutely miserable.  
He gets home in the evening and almost cries when Junhong asks him about his day. This, of course, causes a major commotion and all of his flatmates get involved. Even Yoongi, who looks decidedly disgruntled at the turn of events.  
Namjoon doesn’t give them too many details about JaeJoong, but Yoongi looks him dead in the eye and says, “So your crush dated Kim JaeJoong, and now you are worried he won’t want you, because JaeJoong is rich and hot.”  
“H… how do you..?”  
“There were gossips about JaeJoong dating a student, but no one knew for sure. Also, I’m dating Jiho’s best friend, so he is my friend by proxy.”  
“And you haven’t told me?!”  
“Why would I,” Yoongi sounds bored. “I prefer not to talk to you.”  
“You shouldn’t worry too much,” Jin chips in. “I mean, they already broke up.”  
“There is more… I saw two other guys he dated, I stand no chance.”  
“Oh? Do we know them?”  
Namjoon doesn’t know their names, but he knows that Jiho hangs out with them, so he finds them on his Instagram. He hoped that his flatmates wouldn’t find them attractive, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the uncomfortable silence says everything.  
It’s Junhong who breaks the silence, “Lee Minhyuk and Bang Yongguk? Are you fucking kidding me? They are so fucking hot. Like. So hot. ‘I would bang them in front of my mom’, hot.”  
Namjoon turns to Yoongi, who just shrugs. At least Jin makes a valiant effort at smiling, before he carefully says, “They aren’t that… attractive?”  
“You fucked Jimin,” Yoongi smirks. “No one trusts your judgment.”  
“Everyone makes mistakes!”  
“Well, Namjoon can only hope Jiho makes them too.”  
Namjoon doesn’t feel all that great the next day. He is pretty sure he failed the test he’s been diligently studying for and it’s because he can’t focus on anything. By the time Jiho arrives at the coffee shop, Namjoon has dropped one glass and two plates, and Taehyung is on the verge of strangling him.  
Sadly, it doesn’t get any better for him. It starts out fine, lulling him into a false sense of security. He moans a bit about the test, and Jiho tries to console him, even though he has no idea what subject Namjoon is talking about. He quickly draws a cute, little kitten on Namjoon’s forearm, and it’s the last good thing that happens that day.  
“Yoongi mentioned that he is dating your best friend.”  
“You know Yoongi?”  
“Yeah? You didn’t know? He didn’t tell you we live together?”  
“He literally never mentioned your name. I know he lives with three other people, but that’s about it. We always meet at either Kyung’s or mine place.”  
Apparently Namjoon’s choice in flatmates sucks. No, it’s not entirely true, Yoongi is quiet, keeps to himself and always pays on time, but it would be nice if the older man actually liked him.  
“I didn’t know he was dating someone working for NASA, even though he knows it’s my dream,” he sighs heavily. It’s not that he wants help landing a job there, but talking to someone who managed to work his way into NASA could be helpful. “Anyway, I don’t know anything about your friend, but isn’t it really difficult for them?”  
“They Skype a lot. They even have Skype-sex, sometimes they start before I leave, ew.”  
“You dated Kyung?”  
“What? No! But he is like that. It’s hard to explain, I will introduce you when he’s back, during the break.”  
Jiho usually draws something while they talk. Namjoon doesn’t find it disrespectful, he is glad that the other man is comfortable around him. Besides, despite drawing or sketching, Jiho is always very attentive. Only this time his friend is drawing someone Namjoon knows all too well. He never really thought that Jiho would be interested in Taehyung of all people, yet there he is, drawing the young barista’s pretty, stupid face.

It turns out that he wasn’t feeling well because he was getting sick, not because his body decided to manifest his bad mood. Which is great. It means he can’t be around food, so he isn’t working, but it’s not bad enough that he can’t prepare the project he still needs to finish for Dr. Choi’s class. No one can say that he is avoiding Jiho, even though that’s exactly what he would be doing, if he wasn’t sick. But he is, so it doesn’t count.  
He doesn’t want to see Jiho falling in love with another man. He can live with the knowledge that Jiho dated JaeJoong, Yongguk and Minhyuk, at least they have something in common, they are all older than his friend, more mature. But Taehyung is two years younger, and the only thing that links him to others is his beauty. And that means Jiho only dates beautiful people. Namjoon isn’t beautiful. Never was, never will be. Interesting, maybe, but not beautiful.  
He finishes his project and five days later he finds himself at work, anxiously waiting for Jiho. He isn’t sure his friend is going to come, it never occurred to him to ask for Jiho’s number, and although he found him on both Instagram and Facebook, he felt too awkward to message him. Namjoon missed him, probably too much.  
“Jiho asked about you,” Taehyung randomly says, “I told him you were sick, but he still came by almost every day.”  
“Of course he did,” Namjoon mutters bitterly, but doesn’t elaborate. He messes up an order and gets yelled at, which puts him in a really foul mood.  
Finally, Jiho comes in all his tall, bitchfaced glory, and Namjoon breaks a plastic bowl when he sets it down with too much force. Taehyung waves him away tiredly, telling him to take a break. At least Jiho looks happy to see him.  
“Why are you so gloomy today?” Jiho asks after he is done telling Namjoon about his newest painting.  
“One of the customers yelled at me, saying I made the worst coffee she’s ever had,” it’s not like Namjoon is confident in his coffee-making skills, usually he rings people up and cleans after them, but Jiho has been coming in for weeks now, and he never complained about the coffee, so he can’t be that bad. “It’s not bad, right?”  
“I mean… uh. It’s drinkable?”  
“You don’t like it! Oh my God, why are you here then, why didn’t you tell me?”  
“Are you for real?” Jiho blinks at him. “I’m not coming here for coffee. Well, except for the first time.”  
“Why then?”  
“To see you, why else?” Jiho says it so freely, like it’s obvious to everyone. But it’s really not obvious to Namjoon. “You really can’t tell that your coffee suc… isn’t very good?”  
“I don’t like coffee, so it all tastes the same to me.”  
“Right, you do always drink tea… It’s not a big deal, Taehyung and Daehyun make decent coffee, so maybe you should just stick to your strengths.”  
“Wait. You’re coming here to see me, not Taehyung?”  
Jiho gapes at him, almost looking offendedm “Why in hell would I want to see Taehyung?!”  
“Because he is hot. And you always date hot guys. Like JaeJoong. Or Yongguk.”  
Jiho’s full, stupidly pink lips twitch like he is about to laugh. He is very expressive, Namjoon likes that about him.  
“Do you really think I dated them because they are handsome?”  
“...maybe.”  
“Do you think I’m so shallow?” his friend pouts cutely, and Namjoon wants to deny it, but Jiho puts a finger over his lips, silencing him. Namjoon kind of wants to suck on them, but he doesn’t want to make things weird. “I dated them because they are smart. I like big brains, they turn me on like nothing else. And no offense to Taehyung, but that boy… The light is on, but nobody’s home, if you know what I mean. Were you jealous?”  
He nods, not really wanting Jiho to remove his fingers.  
“Awesome. Does it mean you will go out with me?”  
To Jiho’s surprise, Namjoon shakes his head vigorously.  
“No. I’ve wanted you first. I wanted you the second you walked in here. Do _you_ want to go out with me?”  
For a second, Jiho looks murderous, but then he agrees with a small, sweet smile followed by a small, sweet kiss.

 

(Few weeks later Namjoon meets Kyung for the first time, and nothing could prepare him for that. Kyung is quite insufferable and makes him feel dumb, but after he’s done with bragging, he tells him everything he knows about getting into NASA, and it’s actually really helpful, so Namjoon doesn’t mind.

He minds it a little bit later, when Kyung threatens to cut his dick off if he hurts Jiho, and Namjoon knows for sure that it’s not an empty threat.

It gets worse, when Kyung suggests a foursome, mentally scarring Yoongi for life. It’s supposed to be a joke, but Namjoon simply doesn’t know anything anymore.)


End file.
